Short Interest in Wendys Co (WEN) Rises By 9.2%

Wendys Co (NASDAQ:WEN) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 25,765,463 shares, a growth of 9.2% from the November 15th total of 23,593,036 shares. Approximately 11.5% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 3,662,945 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.0 days.

Several analysts have recently commented on WEN shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Wendys from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 9th. Nomura lowered their price target on shares of Wendys from $15.00 to $14.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 9th. Longbow Research upgraded shares of Wendys from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $15.23 to $18.00 in a research report on Friday, September 15th. TheStreet lowered shares of Wendys from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 8th. Finally, Zacks Investment Research lowered shares of Wendys from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $16.21.

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Wendys (NASDAQ:WEN) opened at $15.39 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.83, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a current ratio of 1.80. The firm has a market cap of $3,693.50, a P/E ratio of 37.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.93. Wendys has a one year low of $13.03 and a one year high of $16.66.

Wendys (NASDAQ:WEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 8th. The restaurant operator reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.12 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $308.00 million for the quarter. Wendys had a return on equity of 20.35% and a net margin of 5.20%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.11 earnings per share. equities analysts expect that Wendys will post 0.44 EPS for the current year.

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.07 per share. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 30th. Wendys’s dividend payout ratio is currently 112.00%.

In other Wendys news, insider Scott A. Weisberg purchased 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $14.29 per share, for a total transaction of $142,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 199,014 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,843,910.06. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider E.J. Wunsch sold 3,548 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.43, for a total transaction of $54,745.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 26.50% of the company’s stock.

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WEN. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in shares of Wendys by 317.9% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 56,410 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $875,000 after acquiring an additional 42,913 shares during the period. Aperio Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Wendys by 10.1% in the 2nd quarter. Aperio Group LLC now owns 29,354 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $455,000 after acquiring an additional 2,703 shares during the period. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can raised its stake in shares of Wendys by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 120,505 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,868,000 after acquiring an additional 3,752 shares during the period. World Asset Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Wendys by 15.4% in the 2nd quarter. World Asset Management Inc now owns 15,112 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $234,000 after acquiring an additional 2,012 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in shares of Wendys by 83.8% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 51,095 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $792,000 after acquiring an additional 23,289 shares during the period. 76.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Wendys Company Profile

The Wendy’s Company is the parent company of subsidiary holding company Wendy’s Restaurants, LLC (Wendy’s Restaurants). Wendy’s Restaurants is the parent company of Wendy’s International, LLC (Wendy’s), which is the owner and franchisor of the Wendy’s restaurant system in the United States. Wendy’s is a restaurant company specializing in the hamburger sandwich segment.